Bible Discussion Thread

What does the bible mean buy the second death does it mean that your soul will be destroyed for ever like you never excised or does in mean you still burn for ever because death means you die so if God says they were thrown in to the lake and this is the second death. And death means to die wouldn't also mean the second death is your soul dies like you was never created I just don't understand what that verse means about the second death

Davie Miller,

The second death is similiar to the first death, a separation. In the first death a person is removed from their body and our present position in the time/creation sense of "world". In the second death a person is sent to "outer darkness" apart from God for eternity. For a believer, the experience is eternally exhilarating and joyful. For someone who did not believe, there is torment simply because God is. You see, while here in this form of life, both believers and non-believers may neglect God in our thoughts, but once we leave here, God is never absent in our mind. When he really is in our hearts as Lord and Savior, we never lose our place in his heart, forever.

I believe that we need to understand what 'death' is when seen in the Bible. If you ask a man on the street, he will think of death as just a cessation of life & the body disposed of. But the Bible generally speaks of death as more than cessation of life on Earth, but of the requirement to enter into another dimension. When Adam & Eve were told that they would die if they disobeyed God by eating of that tree, indeed they would experience physical death, but much more, that death would take them into the next dimension of existence. So physical death (as in a deep sleep) is generally understood as a 'curtain' that we pass through into the next life. However, as in John 11:14, Jesus also spoke of just a present bodily death of Lazarus.

So when you read of a Second Death ( Rev 20:14), there must of necessity be a First Death. So the First Death is that first experience that we will enter as we close our eyes to this physical world & become aware of the next world. Even though there are other views on when & how this happens, my understanding is that if we are saved through faith in Jesus, we (our souls) are transported into Heaven (pre-Cross: there was a holding stage where the righteous & unrighteous were held: Luke 16:19-31)). But at Jesus' death & resurrection, those righteous were removed from there.

So the Second Death now only applies to those who have died without Christ, whether from days past or yet in the future. They no longer will be held in Hell suffering awaiting judgement, but at the close of the age, they, together with the Devil, his angels, the Antichrist & Death & Hell itself, will be consigned into the Lake of Fire for all eternity ( Mark 9:43-48). As for those in Heaven or in God's new heaven & earth (Revelation chapter 21) who will live into eternity in God's Presence, so too will those who have been sent to the Lake of Fire, be enveloped in continual flames for all eternity. Some believe in a reprieve - the Bible doesn't indicate this at all.

Davie Miller, regarding Revelation 20:14. I think you are accurate when you say, you die and you cease to exist, it's as though you never existed. God is a Holy, Just Merciful God. After the judgement, God will bring forward the second death, which is eternal.

The second death is the everlasting death, everlasting meaning after you die you will be not more, the saints will have everlasting or eternal life and sinners everlasting or eternal death, Some people say that sinners will be in hell forever burning, that's not so if that is the case they will have everlasting life because to feel burning you have to be alive therefore you will have everlasting life, everlasting death means when you die you will cease to exist you will be no more, you no longer exist.